Is it just me or is anyone else becoming increasingly baffled by the myriad of guidance documents, scenarios and potential traps that are currently in the FE funding system
I ask as we have just read this and i have been asked many, many questions i simply cannot answer:

“From April 2018 employers who pay the apprenticeship levy will be able to transfer apprenticeship funds to other organisations.”

“Only levy-paying employers can make a transfer. Any employer can receive and use transferred funds, but they have to be registered on the apprenticeship service. A transfer can only be used to pay for training and assessment for apprenticeship standards”

What if the standard does not exist for the apprenticeship the employer wants?

I have no doubt that there will be detailed guidance that comes out sometime close to April but what do we tell people now. How will we class the learner in ILR – will there be a non-levy, levy funded, 3rd party co-investment learner coding and report that details these and heaven forbid, what if the apprentice is 16-18!!!

I must admit however, i am really glad that the ESFA have reduced the amount of bureaucracy and complexity of the rules i have to work under. Imagine how bad it would be if they had not…

This only applies where standards exist as it cannot be used fro Frameworks.
I expect this will operate from DAS accounts and not require any identification in the ILR.
This sort of thing is only to be expected so you should get used to it.
HTH

The devil will be in the detail of the funding guidance but I cannot see why employers would want to do this, particularly when they find out that they have to do some administration of this through the Apps Service.

Maybe some local authorities would be interested or employers that would get a direct benefit from upskilling a supply chain company but other than that I cannot see why employers, which are usually insular and only concerned with developing their own business, would want to do this to save another company 10% of the price of an apprenticeship. Unless the co-investment % is about to be raised…..

I agree the guidance at the moment is not clear. I have one question which if anyone has an answer would help us plan – From the Learning Provider prospective if the levy paying employer has transferred funds to a small employer could a learning provider who does not have a non-levy contract provide the training for the small employer?

We believe that Keith Smith said that a learning provider could do this?

– funds are gifted for a specific cohort therefore a standard will have to be applied
– providers will liaise with the employer who receives the funds, not the gifting employer
– employer providers cannot send funds to an employer and then do the delivery too
– incentives will be payable to the receiving employer, not the gifting employer
– funds transferred to another employer will not be returned if the cohort doesn’t complete, they will go into the apprenticeships funding pot
– a receiving employer cannot transfer those funds to another employer
– employers cannot send and receive funds at the same time

Updated ESFA guidance is expected by the end of March. Hope this is of some use.